Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Bold Yomelissa.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Bold Yomelissaxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a mutation induction program conducted by the Inventor in Alva, Fla. The objective of the program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Yomelissa, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,223, to X-ray radiation in June, 1999 in Alva, Fla. Following the radiation treatment, the cuttings were rooted and terminal apices were removed to promote lateral branch development. After lateral branches from the pinch reached sufficient size, terminal cuttings were harvested, planted and flowered in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within this population in November, 1999. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and good garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. since January, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Bold Yomelissa has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Bold Yomelissaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Bold Yomelissaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Decorative-type inflorescences.
5. Purple-colored ray florets.
6. Natural season flowering in early October in the Northern Hemisphere.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are most similar to plants of the the cultivar Yomelissa. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Yomelissa in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about two to three days later than plants of the cultivar Yomelissa.
2. Ray florets of the new Chrysanthemum were darker purple in color than ray florets of the cultivar Yomelissa.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can also be compared to plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Heather, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,440. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Heather in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were shorter than plants of the cultivar Heather.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about five days earlier than plants of the cultivar Heather.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Heather.
4. Ray floret color of plants of the new Chrysanthemum did not fade as readily as ray floret color of plants of the cultivar Heather.